In the UK, the day after GCSE results, MFL departments across the country open spreadsheets, analyse question‑level data, compare cohorts, and search for patterns. This is, of course, important for understanding what went well and what didn’t. Yet from experience, what you discover one year may shift completely the next, when exam boards move the goalposts again. The exam‑results analysis is a familiar and essential ritual for Heads of Department, but it often hides the deepe